PHYSOSTIGMINE 395 



the hind quarters of the patient fail. The alkaloid, in com- 

 bination with pilocarpine, is serviceable for its speedy 

 action in flatulent colic and impaction of the caecum, colon, 

 and rectum in horses, and has been employed to expel 

 calculi and foreign bodies from the intestines. 



Physostigmine is contraindicated in spasmodic colic, 

 when it may increase the trouble by exciting intense peri- 

 staltic contractions. Its employment is also attended with 

 some danger in overloaded or greatly distended stomach 

 or bowels, in view of possible rupture of these organs. The 

 drug, like other purgatives, may aggravate the damage pro- 

 duced by twist or intersusception. 



In atonic conditions of the stomach and bowels, and in 

 indigestion due to chronic intestinal catarrh, small and 

 repeated doses of eserine are sometimes of benefit. There 

 have recently been reported many successful cases of partu- 

 rient apoplexy in cows treated with eserine. One or two 

 grains are injected intratracheally or subcutaneously to 

 cause a rapid movement of the bowels. In these patients 

 the drug is followed by strychnine subcutaneously to combat 

 paralysis. 



Eserine has been employed in chronic bronchitis, asth- 

 ma and emphysema, to improve the tone of the bronchial 

 mucous membranes and expel secretions. 



3. Eserine is one of the drugs commonly used in the 

 treatment of tetanus in human and veterinary practice, with 

 only a moderate degree of success. It must be employed 

 early, given every three or four hours, and pushed to the 

 physiological limit. Chorea and epilepsy have been treated 

 with eserine without any pathological basis, as far as epil- 

 epsy is concerned, and with little therapeutic advantage in 

 either instance. In some cases of paraplegia, resulting from 

 myelitis, a favorable effect has been obtained in man. 

 Eserine is an appropriate purgative (hypodermatically) in 

 acute encephalitis. 



Physostigmine and pilocarpine are the two best anti- 

 dotes in atropine poisoning. Eserine has been used in 



